Bodyblow for Oxford Glyco investors

Sunday 23 June 2002 23:00 BST

SHARES in Oxford Glycosciences plunged 81p to 311 1/2p, a three-year low, after US regulators blocked approval for its most significant drug, Vevesca. The drug was meant to combat Gaucher's disease, a rare genetic disorder mainly affecting Ashkenazi Jews that makes it difficult for the body to break down certain fats.

But the Food and Drug Administration has ruled OGS failed to prove the safety or efficacy of the drug. It emerged earlier this year that one patient who had taken the drug for three years had developed Alzheimer's-type symptoms.

The block comes as a severe blow to OGS's new chief executive, David Ebworth, a former pharmaceuticals boss of Germany's Bayer, who took over in July. At the time he said: 'My priority has to be to close the gap between the early-stage pipeline and Vevesca.'

Although there are around onlt 3,000 Gaucher's disease sufferers in the world, some analysts believed that if Vevesca had proved successful it could have generated sales of more than £50m a year.

The company has been given 10 days to amend its application on Vevesca, notify the FDA of its intention to amend the application, or to withdraw the application.